


Sometimes It Makes Sense

by mresundance



Category: Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Implied Relationships, M/M, POV First Person, Past Relationship(s), RPF, Short & Sweet, Slice of Life, Trope Subversion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29514312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mresundance/pseuds/mresundance
Summary: Shel gets a visit from his ex-wives.
Relationships: Jan Harrison/Jeanne Fields, Ken Miles/Carroll Shelby
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Sometimes It Makes Sense

Parts, 'cuz that's how you get started, see? Parts like a jigsaw. Sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it don't. Axle, brakes (and all those little components), gearbox, alternator, radiator and every other part besides. They sync together when they're well matched, and that's all I can say about it.

But indulge me, Peter. I remembered something and thought you might get a kick outta it, knowing me and your old man.

One day I was in my office ordering parts, like you do, when Charlie -- you remember Charlie? that young man who liked to throw fire crackers at girls? -- came on right up to the door. Said there was some lady to see me.

Yeah, you're already laughing at Uncle Shel, because you know how I am. A lady! Well, shit. I didn't notice your father around so I didn't see any harm in flirting if she was good looking. 

Keeping my back to the door (I thought I was mysterious, son, don't try this) I told her we were busy. That always used to fluster some women. And flustering women, I thought, was a way to make them vulnerable so you could strike.

That never worked with my wife.

Ex-wife.

That's right. She strode right in wearing a polka-dotted, dress, pretty as the day we was first married twenty-one years ago. She carried a dish of some kind.

"Carroll," she said. 

"Jeanne," I answered, incredulous.

She smiled.

So she hadn't come to poison me. I smiled and all the love between us flowed right back, at least for me.

She put the dish down and began to ask me how I was. Now, I was too darn twitterpatted to really more than grunt answers, but it seemed to be going well when Charlie appeared in the doorway again announcing  _ another  _ lady. Two in one day? I was gloriously dazed until an all too familiar, all too tiny, woman in lime green entered. With a casserole.

I gulped. 

That's right son, that's right. It was my affair with little ol' Jan that cost me my first marriage. I was crazy about her. She was addictive as racing to me. Something about her laugh, her wry sense of humor, clean finished me. 

Yet it was deeper than that. I was being a piss-poor husband and father, because I was tired of being both. With Jeanne, though I loved her, home had become a stifling place of expectation and duty and only that. Jan could make me forget. 

But when I saw Jeanne and Jan there, I thought: oh shit. I started looking for ways out and I was so preoccupied with the idea of sliding past Jeanne and out the door, that I didn't notice the quiet, dignified way they began to lay plates on my desk. They worked together in unison, synced. Jan even smiled coyly up at Jeanne, the way she used to around me.

"Uh, what's goin' on?" I asked. 

"Well someone said you needed some fattening up," Jan said. 

"I do not need --"

And this is of course when your Daddy strode in, Peter, loping in wearing that greasy jumper, reeking to high heaven of engine oil and gasoline. He bore a cup of tea and alighted in my office like he hadn't a damn care in the world -- 'cept maybe to peruse the carnage that was bound to happen between Jeanne and Jan. 

"Oh that looks nice," he said, bending over Jan's casserole.

"Mr. Miles, that's not for you," Jan said flatly. 

"Pity," Ken pouted. 

" 'Mr. Miles'? Do you  _ know  _ him?"

"He's the one who called us and said you were turning into skin and bones," Jeanne said.

"I told Jeanne we should leave you, but she insisted. You know how she is," Jan said.

"Yeah . . ." I said. And then: "Ken, come talk with me -- uuuuh --" I looked for space and settled on the area just outside my office.

Your Daddy followed, slurping his tea and looking at me with wide, innocent eyes.

"Cut the crap, Ken, why'd you invite my ex wives here?"

"I dunno," Ken said into his cup of tea. "For a laugh?"

"Well it's  _ real funny  _ to throw these two women together when it could bring up --"

The tinkle of laughter from my office. I paused to look inside and Jeanne and Jan were  _ holding hands -- _

"Relax, it's just a bit of fun. Mostly at your expense."

"Oh thanks."

"Carroll, come get some casserole," Jeanne called.

"Yes Carroll, do," Ken said. 

Now your Daddy never called me "Carroll", just "Shel", so I made a face at him. He was being right ornery, I knew as I followed him back into the office.

We began to dig in and the food was rather good when I heard a rap on the open door frame.

"Knock-knock," Lee said, with that soft, charming grin of his. 

Let me tell you, the man could melt butter with those brown eyes and that smile.

"Lee, to what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked. 

"Well, I have some more paperwork for you to go through."

"Sure, sure," I said, moving plates on my desk so Lee could deposit a fat cache of paper. 

Now, Lee and I never . . . but the thought had crossed my mind. And I think it zigzagged his a few times at least. So we were pretty informal. Close. While I sat and read and signed papers and Lee leaned over me. 

Your Daddy watched with a careful, dark interest, but he was never threatened.

Meanwhile, Jeanne and Jan giggled and whispered excitedly. 

Lee declined the casserole and left. The minute he did, you'd think something had exploded with the chatter in the office.

"He's lovely Carroll," Jeanne said. 

"Such a nice suit and everything," Jan said.

"What are you even talkin' about?" I asked.

"I'm just happy for you," Jeanne said.

It took me a minute to piece this one together, but when I did I just started laughing.

"You think Lee and I are --?" I kept laughing.

"Oi!" your Daddy said. "That's my man," he pointed to me.

Silence.

"Oooooh," Jeanne and Jan said at once. 

"That makes  _ so _ much sense," Jan said.

Jeanne agreed. 

It's true they didn't coo over your Daddy, the way they did Lee, but they respected him, I could tell. They talked to him like he was anyone else, which is what he would have wanted. 

He left, eventually, to do what I paid him to do when he wasn't test driving. Jeanne and Jan collected their plates and silverware and dishes.

"It was good to see you," I said as they left, and I meant it.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like a year ago (!) and never posted. I have no idea why. It's cute and simple. So here you go.


End file.
